COMPOSERS: Cui
LABELS: Naxos
WORKS: 25 Preludes, Op. 64
PERFORMER: Jeffrey Biegel (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: 8.555557 Reissue (1992)
César Cui is best remembered for the caustic things he wrote about other people’s music and has, accordingly, been punished by dismissal of his own. Even the booklet notes accompanying this reissue are discouraging and define the music by saying what it lacks. Its positive virtues are good keyboard-writing and attractiveness. Longer acquaintance might reveal more, and some pieces are quite striking even on a single hearing – usually those in a minor key. The playing is very good, but the recording much too distant and a recurring ring on the piano is maddening: the tuner should have got rid of it. Adrian Jack
Cui: 25 Preludes, Op. 64
César Cui is best remembered for the caustic things he wrote about other people’s music and has, accordingly, been punished by dismissal of his own. Even the booklet notes accompanying this reissue are discouraging and define the music by saying what it lacks. Its positive virtues are good keyboard-writing and attractiveness. Longer acquaintance might reveal more, and some pieces are quite striking even on a single hearing – usually those in a minor key.
Our rating
5
Published: January 20, 2012 at 1:15 pm